I've been doing a lot of reading on my own because I don't really trust the value proposition of the MFE programs. I worry that there is just enough rumor, uncertainty, and fantasy among math & physics people that MFE programs can rake it in while providing only a simulacrum of benefit to the student.
I wrote my DIY MFE course so far down here:
http://tumblr.com/xp11bb2oo7. Also some one-liner reactions to what I've read.
I'm a skeptic of going to school for financial reasons. I got an excellent undergraduate education (math & economics & stats & liberal arts) and it never did jack sh$t for me in terms of getting a job.
(I did learn a great deal in school. And it was applicable to my career. But degree did not equal job and now that I've had my college smarty good time, I don't think a postgrad repeat is necessary.)
There are lots of articles over the past year about how school does not pay, graduates are unemployed, etc. I remember in the 90's computer science grads made fat cash. But that is the only real case where I have seen college degrees make money.
I am very wary that the boom in professional masters degrees is driven by fear, parents, government loans, and laziness. Why does the phrase "just go back to school" have a 'just' prepended to it?
I could be wrong and I'd like to hear more from asiaprop, who seems to be the